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Chapter 1: What unique marine education opportunities are available for children in Ireland?
Did you know that when the maritime areas under our control are included in our jurisdiction, Ireland is one of the largest territories in Europe? 70,000 kilometres squared of land, nearly 900,000 kilometres squared of sea. Ten times more maritime than terrestrial. which makes for a literal ocean of possibilities.
Aquaculture, nutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals, nature conservation, marine tourism, carbon storage, renewable energy, etc., etc., etc., etc. The seas that used to put us at a disadvantage, separating us from everyone else, are now an absolute advantage. But we aren't great at teaching ourselves about it and turning our faces to the sea.
The Marine Institute's Explorers Education Programme is trying to tackle that deficit young. Delivered in Dublin and Wicklow by Seashore Kids, they are bringing marine science to life through hands-on activities, both in the classroom and on the beach. Earlier this week, countrywide's Della Kilroy joined marine zoologist Mona McRae
on Bray Beach to find out how the programme is getting a new generation to look a little bit more closely at Ireland's coastal environment.
We are on Bray Beach down the south end near Bray Head and this is just a wonderful outdoor classroom for our kids coming down any minute now. We come into the class, tell the kids about all the marine life, what you can find, how to find it, and then they get the experience of coming down to the beach and finding it for themselves.
And once they find that, then it really fosters environmental awareness and everything about the sea, how they can protect it. Ah, here they are! I can see them all running down to us!
I'm with environmental scientist Mona McCree and fifth class students from Bray's St Peter's Primary School where, armed with buckets, nets, sieves and guides, they set out to investigate the biodiversity of their local beach. We've got a bucket, we've got a magnifying glass and a net. What are you going to look for? Mainly crabs but also lugworms right now.
We're going to move on to different habitats in a while.
So we are digging in the muddy sand here and they're looking for lugworms, they're looking for any other kinds of worms, rag, any other worms, and also for little bivalves. So things like cockles and telum bivalves, things like that. So let's see what we find.
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Chapter 2: How does the Seashore Kids program engage students in marine science?
What are they looking for?
So they are using their nets. They're going around all the seaweed and they're looking for shrimp or prawns or little fish, maybe get some crabs. There's so much here and all you really need to do is know what you're looking for and how to look for it.
They're wet. They're sandy. They're really getting stuck in.
Covered in water and sand. Happy, happy kids. And really, once that happens, then they get an interest in the marine environment. They learn that they need to protect it. And they're our future. They're our future generation. It's so important. And as David Attenborough says, if you save the sea, you save the world. And these kids are doing a fantastic job.
After over an hour of searching, and with full buckets, the class show off what they've found before placing it back where they found it. So guys, you've got three buckets full of things. What did you find? We found crab claws and a bunch of snails and everything.
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Chapter 3: What activities do children participate in during beachcombing?
And I forgot what this is called. A roach. A roach. It's called a roach. And we caught a bunch of crabs and everything. Yeah, and an enemy's crab. What have you found? A long kelp. It's like a brownish gold and it's like up to my waist from my shoe. It's a big one. Yeah, real big. What did you find? Shark eggs. What do they look like? They look like a well-spotted cat, sure.
What did you like about today? Going over to the little pools over there and getting crabs and all out of it and finding the enemy yokies. What do you think about the ocean?
I think it's so amazing that there is so much life that we know about and there's even more if not double that we don't know about just out there for us to explore and it has such beauty and potential and it powers everything and really is the heart and soul of our world and I think it's beautiful.
so everybody um you found so many things okay well done now you guys all know a lot more than a lot of adults now okay so bit of homework is to pass on tell at least one person about what you found or when i was in the other day telling you why the sea is important to us and why we really need to protect the ocean can you do that can everyone do that Yeah, brilliant.
If you can't say an anemone without having to think about it, and let's be honest, it doesn't trip off the tongue. I think anemone should be a perfectly acceptable alternative from here on in. Della Kilroy with marine zoologist Mona McCree and students from St. Peter's Primary School in Braybeach in Wicklow. More information on the Marine Institute's Explorers Education Programme, marine.ie.
On the Countrywide Fishmongers team, Mary Elizabeth Bruton cried cockles and mussels, Gara Duffy wheeled the wheelbarrow and Sheila O'Callaghan died of the fever? No, that doesn't work. Sorry. Have a good weekend. Talk to you next week.
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